Kagehitokiri

qatar government owns >
san francisco - st regis
rome - st regis, westin (IC)
florence - st regis (FS)
venice - gritti
milan - luxury collection
doha - ritz, marriott, sheraton
sharm - renaissance
non marriott >
paris - peninsula, raffles, IC
london - fairmont, connaught, claridges, berkeley, IC
singapore - raffles
IC - amsterdam, frankfurt, cannes, madrid (rome?)

qatar 'privately owned' >
st regis - bal habour, washington
w miami
marriott doha

svo242

This one is exciting for me...new St. Regis resort planned (very early stages) in Longboat Key, Florida. Plan is mixed condo and hotel (166 rooms, 102 condos, 5 story buildings). Oceanfront property that includes 2 pools, salt water lagoon, lazy river, 15,000+ square foot spa, 10,000 sq. ft ballroom, and 2 restaurants. Hope it comes to fruition!



http://www.yourobserver.com/article/...esort-property

bhrubin

Thanks for sharing!

bhrubin

It's official. St. Regis Longboat Key Sarasota:

http://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20...n-longboat-key

cfabar1

St. Regis has really fallen behind... they have to expand a lot...
Chicago
Philadelphia
Detroit
Los Angeles
Austin
Dallas
Naples
Key West
Boston
Seattle
Portland
to name a few...

But the brand also must be updated to create timeless luxury blended with millennial desires and modern conveniences.

bhrubin

The St. Regis brand really didn't begin until 1999 when the Carlton Hotel in Washington, DC, became only the second St. Regis hotel in the Starwood portfolio.

In 18 years, St. Regis has gone from the original flagship property in New York to 44 current properties around the world...with another 17 confirmed properties awaiting completion and at least another 20+ supposedly in the pipeline. I do believe that would be among the most growth in the luxury hotel segment of any luxury brand.

The St. Regis brand already provide timeless, often modern luxury. There are some properties needing refurbishment, certainly, but the brand standard is quite good. Whether or not it includes elements for millennial desires is in the eye of the beholder, of course, but I'd say St. Regis is quite competitve with most Four Seasons and Peninsula hotels...and is one of the few luxury brands that can match Peninsula in its use of technology and modern conveniences. The luxury segment will consider millennial desires in a different light than other hotel segments, as only a certain segment of millenials are likely to frequent luxury hotels.

As for your list of cities, many are not cities that should be or will be priorities. St. Regis will be most appropriate in legendary resort locations and in leading financial center cities where higher end business travel demand can be met. Those are not always in the USA. In fact, only Los Angeles, Chicago, and maybe Boston would be global priorities. The true priorities will be global financial centers like London (rumors for the former US Embassy to become a St. Regis), Paris, Tokyo, Sydney, etc. I'm sure other high end resort destinations will be considered, too. The most recent addition of the Maldives showcases that.

St. Regis expansion also depends on places where hotel/building construction and development is significant, or where current hotel or building ownership wants to move in a different management direction. St. Regis doesn't build hotels, after all. St. Regis merely provides high end luxury management for high end luxury hotels. Were a luxury hotel developer in the right location in Dallas approaches St. Regis, I'm sure St. Regis will be open to managing an appropriate hotel. Until then, however, St. Regis isn't likely there unless another hotel owner wants to change brands once its management contract ends.

The Marriott merger also means that Ritz Carlton and St. Regis can be developed to complement each other. St. Regis occupies a market niche that actually competes even with Ritz Carlton Reserve.

Sorry...but Naples, Portland, Key West, Austin, Detroit, Portland are hardly priorities for a global brand like St. Regis. There's never going to be a St. Regis in Key West...or most likely in Detroit or Portland, either.

jaejaez

What I would prefer from an expanding St. Regis is stricter adherence to consistency.

Individual hotels can retain its unique charm and character while still being consistent to the standard key St. Regis elements. What I don’t want is the St. Regis to become another W, where the only global consistency left are the bathroom amenities and the lobby scent.

Particularly around two points (can’t think of any more right now…):

1. Butler service. Some St. Regis’ butlers provide coffee throughout the day free of charge while others only upon check-in and morning-call. Some offer espressos and lattes and cappuccinos while others restrict it only to black coffee and charge $ for any others. Some properties have butlers inspect housekeeping & turndown service whereas others don’t involve butlers in any housekeeping matters. Some St. Regis’ butlers make it a point to meet with you upon check-in (some at the check-in counter to escort to your room, others soon after you arrive in your room), while others you can have a five night stay without seeing your butler once. Some St. Regis’ have butler service across all room types while others limit butler service to suites & up… etc etc

The point is, I don’t want to have to spend time ‘researching’ on what the butler service includes/doesn’t include prior to booking a hotel for a particular property. This is actually the reason to why many choose branded hotels over independent hotels – for consistency. Don’t loosen it with the expanding portfolio please.

2. Evening Champagne sabering. Not a deal breaker as I hardly have time to participate in most of my stays anyway... but if the brand is going to advertise this as one of the signature St. Regis rituals, make it consistent throughout. Some hotels charge $ for this while others don’t. Some hotels do it daily while others do it sporadically. Some hotels have staff (butlers) advertise this actively whilst others keep it a ‘secret’ hoping that nobody would ask about it so they can skip it(?).

jaejaez

I agree.
Would be good (and also make sense) to have them in:

TOKYO
HONG KONG
FRANKFURT
GENEVA
ZURICH
PARIS
LONDON
MONACO
BOSTON
CHICAGO
LOS ANGELES


I understand that some of these locations already hv them in the pipeline (eg Hong Kong).

svo242

I'm hoping that Marriott will help expand the brand in the US. It seems like part of the reason why the developer chose St. Regis in Longboat Key is because of their confidence in Marriott, being that they successfully run the Ritz Carlton in the area.

bhrubin

Agreed. Though those cities are also some of the most expensive and most difficult for new construction. That certainly is the challenge for London and Paris.

There's a reason that so many new St. Regis properties are opening in China--there is so much new building construction that there have been and continue to be so many opportunities.

London's current US Embassy is to be vacated for a new embassy facility later this year. That current embassy building was purchased by the same Qatar fund that owns several St Regis hotels. The rumor is that this current Mayfair-located embassy building may become the St. Regis London.

Tokyo already has the Luxury Collection Prince Gallery Kioicho, which based on reviews is a spectacular hotel worthy of any St Regis or Ritz Carlton. (I'll be staying there in May 2018.) Tokyo's hosting of the 2020 Olympics helped fuel a hotel boom, so perhaps a new hotel may yet become a St Regis.

Paris getting the 2024 Olympics and Los Angeles getting the 2028 Olympics may yet fuel more luxury hotel construction/reflagging in anticipation. Paris is a particularly difficult city for new construction. Los Angeles is undergoing a construction boom, so I'd give the edge to Los Angeles eventually getting a new St. Regis. Let's not forget that there was a very nice St. Regis Los Angeles in Century City that went condo in 2006.

Boston and Chicago will need a new hotel boom or a very nice hotel building to reflag in order to get St. Regis. Fortunately, both have a Ritz Carlton.

Zurich and Geneva are tough markets, as well, for new hotels. Especially for US brands. The Wilson in Geneva might make a StR a tougher sell for an owner.

I wonder what resort destinations might be added to the StR portfolio. I'd assume possible priority additions would be:

--Honolulu (rumors of a St Regis tower at a renovated Princess Kaiulani Sheraron complex, if they ever start the reno project)
--Caribbean
--Fiji
--South Africa

RafKa

Last time I checked, South Africa was in the middle of a double-dip recession, and already has a fair stock of high-end properties, so a StR may be far away.

Also in recession, but an easier case would be Sao Paulo, Brazil. It's an even bigger financial center than Mexico City, and besides the Park Hyatt (which is poorly located) there are only a handful of independent high-end properties (Emiliano, Fasano, and the Unique although the latter is more of a W competitor). The city only has a subpar SPG property, which is an old Sheraton reflagged from a Melia, in an inconvenient location. Also, no planning restrictions whatsoever, and falling interest rates may mean hotel investments become attractive again.

Buenos Aires shelved its plans for a StR, it would be great to see that revived (the site has been developed into an office block), although the economy is still far from recovery.

Sidney could definitely do with one, as could say, the Algarve in Portugal.

There will be another StR in the Caribbean (besides Puerto Rico), when the StR Riviera Maya opens in 2018.

bhrubin

No doubt. Perhaps wishful thinking on my part, since I absolutely love South Africa. I've actually always thought Cape Town was perfect for a W. St Regis would be most appropriate for Jo'burg, most likely.

Agreed. As much as we tourist types might love to see a St Regis in Rio, Sao Paolo is far more likely due to its important business climate. The economic conditions might also suggest a W.

BA is a city where I'd love to see a St Regis. But it will take some serious economic revival to see anyone build for it...

Absolutely. I just think St Regis could do with another Caribbean island property, perhaps in a place like St. Barth's, BVI, or Grenada. But perhaps the Riviera Maya property is the (only) answer.

Personally, I'd prefer there to be another St Regis on Maui and/or the Big Island of Hawaii...but that seems doubtful for now.

RafKa

Fully agree with you here. If I had to guess, it would most likely happen in Jo'burg, and CT would get perhaps a LC.

Who knows... with land prices in Brazil coming down to realistic prices, and a recovery down the road in 12-18 months, this could well happen. My (wild) guess is that Rio may have yet have a shot at a W: the Trump hotel in Barra was deflagged, and is still soft open enough that I can still hope it'll be flagged a W. A W was in the cards before the owners decided to go with Trump, heaven knows why! Another possibility in Rio is teh Marina All Suites Hotel at a prime beachfront spot in Leblon, which is currently being gutted - Marina Hotels were bought by Oskar Metsavaht, creator of lifestyle clothing brand Osklen and a savvy businessman. Hopefully he is talking to operators and I would hope a W (maybe an Edition) could be a possibility.

Agree, but Argentineans' appetite for luxury hotels never ceases to amaze me, and it looks like the PH and FS there are thriving, judging by their rates. So you never know!


In any case, we're on the same page on a few things, and definitely on seeing more StR popping up in nice locales around the world.

bhrubin

I'd say we agree on more than a few things--and certainly on seeing more StR around the world.

CommentatusMaximus

Totally agree, the StR butler services are all over the place. There needs to be a set list of included activities/services, another set that cost extra and can be priced at locally acceptable rates, and then everything else is a "best effort." If I don't know what I'm getting, I'll undervalue the butler benefit which means a lower expected room rate, it's in the brand's best interest to clearly communicate the value of a butler.